Portuguese Model Murder Case Ends In Conviction for Renato Seabra, Who Castrated His Former Lover

A New York jury convicted Renato Seabra of second-degree murder Friday, bringing a close to the gruesome story of the Portuguese model murder that has been splashed across newspaper headlines for almost two years. Seabra was visiting New York City with his 65-year-old lover, Carlos Antonio De Castro, when Castro broke off the relationship and was later found dead, mutilated and castrated.

CNN reported that prosecutors were able to convince the jury Seabra committed the crime because he was upset over being rejected and that Castro would no longer be financing their life of luxury together, which lasted three months.

The murder took place in January 2011 at the InterContinental Hotel in Times Square, and after the grisly crime Seabra showered and took $1,600 from Castro before hanging a “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door on his way out.

Seabra used a corkscrew to remove the dead man’s testicles and wore them around his wrists to “harness their power,” according to the New York Daily News.

On the way out of the hotel, while wearing mousse in his hair and an expensive suit, the Portuguese model ran into a friend of Castro’s, who Seabra said “would not be leaving the room.”

The murderer, now 23, plead insanity to the charges, a defense the jury took just one day to reject. He reportedly showed no emotion at the verdict, but the jury forewoman wept as she read the decision.

Seabra’s lawyers never disputed that he killed Castro, but defense attorney Rubin Sinins told the jury on the first day of the trial the Portuguese model was not responsible because he was in the midst of a “psychotic episode.”

“In the case of Renato Seabra, crazy really means crazy,” Sinins said, according to the Chicago Tribune. “This case is about mental illness. He told the police they were the demons and that by pulling them out, by cutting them out, everything will be right with the world.”

A hotel employee found Castro’s naked corpse on Jan. 7, 2011, with the cause of death later determined to be blunt force to the head and neck compression. Prosecutors said Seabra checked into Bellevue psychiatric hospital for “wrist lacerations” and confessed to the crime the next day.

He faces 25 years to life at a sentencing hearing scheduled for Dec. 21.